Last year, the world witnessed an alarming rise in government-imposed internet shutdowns – at least 296 cases from 54 different countries. This is according to a new report by popular digital rights movement watchdog Access Now.
These internet blackouts are frequently high during public protests, wars, and elections, raising serious implications for digital rights and democracy.
A Growing Global Trend
According to the report, the increased dependence of authorities on the interruption of internet traffic for the hushing up of dissent and controlling information flow.
“Authorities and warring parties wielded an unprecedented number of internet shutdowns as a weapon of war and a tool for collective punishment – hurling communities into digital darkness and concealing grave human rights abuses,” said Felicia Anthonio, manager of Access Now’s #KeepItOn campaign.
Myanmar, for the first time since 2018, pushed India above itself as the most aggressive offender by shutting down the internet 85 times, one more than India. Four countries – India, Myanmar, Pakistan, and Russia – accounted for more than 70 percent of the world’s internet blackouts, with most of the disruptions coming from these countries.
Kenya’s Experience with Internet Shutdowns
Kenya also had its fair share of deliberate internet shutdowns. The most notable incident occurred on June 25, when nationwide protests against the Finance Bill 2024 led to widespread connectivity issues for nearly seven hours. This shutdown, done to thwart protest mobilization, resulted in an estimated economic loss of $4 million.
In November, the government restricted access to Telegram for 21 days during the national secondary school examination to minimize cheating. While officials claimed the need to ensure the integrity of the examination process, some critics saw this as a worrying precedent for state-based censorship. The economic impact of the combined outages was in Kenya’s economy about $75 million, according to industry experts.
The Cost of Digital Darkness
Access Now’s report underlines the devastating impact of internet shutdowns, especially in economies heavily reliant on digital trade and online services. Most of these shutdowns are to deliberately block citizens from getting access to important information. It also affects companies, banking systems, or businesses, and ultimately essential communication in times of emergencies.
Inarguably, war has been the most dominant reason for producing a total number of shutdowns to the sum of 103 in 11 countries – Ethiopia, Sudan, Ukraine, and Palestine. Shutdowns due to protests and elections also constituted an increasing trend whereby governments have resorted to digitized blackout regimes to manage their narratives and combat opposition.
Calls for Greater Accountability
“Online shutdowns are an increasingly potent tool of repression,” Anthonio said, “and we are seeing these pervasive patterns of crushing censorship along with the urgent need for stronger digital rights protection.”
Digital rights advocates in Kenya have also pushed to legislate protections against future interruptions, as access to the internet becomes increasingly recognized as a fundamental human right in this ever-more-connected world. Whereas governments worldwide continue to grapple with the role of digital platforms in governance, the need for clearer definitions around policies of internet freedom has never been more urgent.
The global community’s eyes had begun turning toward holding governments accountable for systems of digital censorship as the costs-socioeconomic of shutdowns began escalating.
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